29 June 2015

Canada is filled with quaint, picturesque, historic courthouses. I've previously done a post asking for your favourites. As you can see from the above photo, Alexandria's courthouse might unfortunately not count among the quaintest, nor most picturesque of historic courthouses of Canada (it is, after all, a former grocery store converted to court purposes). But I do maintain that its case and user composition is among the most diverse you'll find anywhere in the country. While the courthouse in theory was established to serve Alexandria's population of 4000 people and greater North Glengarry Township and South Glengarry Township populations totalling about 26,000 people, a constantly changing interprovincial and international cast of tens of thousands of people travel daily through its southern stretches running just north of the mighty St. Lawrence River. Approximately 19,000 vehicles per day (according to MTO stats) pass through its jurisdiction along the Highway 401 (from the Quebec border in the east to the City of Cornwall limits in the west), including the last chances for cheap gas before Quebec or the first chances for cheap gas after entering Ontario. Those vehicles range from commercial trucking traffic to college students headed down for fun weekends in Montreal to families off on summer camping adventures across Canada. You'll see a range of vehicle plates from Nova Scotia to British Columbia to Ohio. What brings them all together at the Alexandria Courthouse is their misfortune of being stopped on the 401 and charged with a criminal or highway traffic offence. Their first of many court appearances will be at the Alexandria Courthouse. And their next appearance. And the appearance after that as well. All the way up to trial day. Criminal and provincial offence systems in Ontario are based on in-person appearances. Regardless of whether you're from Halifax, or Sept Isles, or Brampton, or Vancouver, you'll be stuck coming back to Alexandria. Again. And again. And again. That is, unless you hire a lawyer who can appear as your agent. Appear to request disclosure, analyse your case, propose how to proceed, and deal with adjournments. Appear to handle Crown pre-trial negotiations. And appear to conduct judicial pre-trials. You'll still eventually need to appear in person for any guilty plea or trial (though for highway traffic offences you won't even need to do that). But a lawyer appearing for you at any stage can save you a whole lot of travel and waiting around for your case to be called hassle. My office is right across the street from the Courthouse (that above photo is taken from my front office steps). I'd be pleased to help you out with your court appearances and court cases in Alexandria, Ontario. I've been involved in criminal and regulatory law for twenty years, have worked in every province and territory of Canada (except for the Yukon), and litigated criminal and civil cases up to the level of the Supreme Court of Canada. But I especially like living and practicing in this particular far eastern corner of Ontario. If you're an out of area lawyer (be you from Toronto or Montreal or elsewhere) who has a client with court appearances in Alexandria, I'd likewise be pleased to assist you so you don't have to run out here every 30 days (the usual cycle of appearances at the Alexandria court) pending your settlement negotiations or setting of trial dates. Don't hesitate to contact me at the coordinates to the right of this post.